Story highlights

An object found Sunday on Reunion is actually part of a ladder, Australian official says

Experts in France to start analysis of Boeing 777 flaperon on Wednesday to see if it is from MH370

"The preference would be to get a direct, physical link" with MH370, ATSB's Dolan tells CNN

Saint-Denis, Reunion Island (CNN)Investigators and volunteers are scouring the shoreline of Reunion in the western Indian Ocean for more debris that could be linked to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Objects that wash ashore on the island are being scrutinized.

Farther out across the ocean, authorities on other islands -- Mauritius and the Seychelles -- say they are on the lookout for items bobbing in the waves that might be from the lost jetliner.

At the root of all the hunting is a wing component of a Boeing 777 that was found last week by beach cleaners on Reunion, a French overseas department. Officials say they believe it's most likely from Flight 370, the only 777 plane known to have gone missing over water.

The wing part, known as a flaperon, is at a French lab, awaiting expert verification that's due to begin Wednesday. The remnants of a suitcase that were found on Reunion the day after the flaperon have been sent to another lab for analysis.

Investigators seek 'a direct, physical link'

But other than those two items, nothing else found on Reunion is getting serious consideration from investigators as a possible link to MH370.

Photos:MH370 debris discovered on Reunion Island

Photos:MH370 debris discovered on Reunion Island

Debris discovered on the island of Reunion, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, was confirmed to be from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said August 5. The plane disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board.

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Photos:MH370 debris discovered on Reunion Island

French police officers carry the plane debris on July 29. Experts say the metallic object may be a piece of a moving wing surface, known as a flaperon, from a Boeing 777.

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Photos:MH370 debris discovered on Reunion Island

Police officers inspect debris on July 29.

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Photos:MH370 debris discovered on Reunion Island

Another piece of debris resembles remnants of a suitcase.

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Photos:MH370 debris discovered on Reunion Island

Police carry debris on July 29.

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Since the passenger jet went missing nearly 17 months ago with 239 people aboard, there have been frequent false alarms amid the far-flung efforts to locate it. Objects initially flagged as possible plane debris turned out to be plain old flotsam and jetsam.

Following that pattern, a metal item found Sunday on Reunion -- described by authorities as an "object of interest" -- drew a lot of attention until officials dismissed it as part of a household ladder.

Relatives of those on board have said they want 100% proof that the flaperon is from Flight 370.

"The preference would be to get a direct, physical link between this flaperon and MH370" in order to give "absolute certainty to the families," said Martin Dolan, the head of the Australian agency that's coordinating the underwater search for the aircraft's remains.

"If we can't do that, then obviously, we'll have to find a way of eliminating all other possibilities," Dolan, the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, told CNN's "New Day" on Monday.

Lab analyzed Air France wreckage

It's unclear how long the analysis will take at the lab in France, which previously examined wreckage from Air France Flight 447, a passenger jet that went down in the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009.

Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

There is still no way to know for sure why Flight MH370 ended, but we are learning more about the lives of those on board. CNN is remembering them through snapshots shared with us.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Rodney and Mary Burrows were looking forward to becoming first-time grandparents after their return home to Australia.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Australians Catherine and Robert Lawton were traveling with friends on vacation when the flight disappeared.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Paul Weeks was traveling to Mongolia for a new job as an engineer. His wife says Paul left behind his watch and his wedding ring before the trip, in case anything happened to him while he was away. Anderson spoke with Paul's brother & sister who said they are coping by spending time together as a family.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Chandrika Sharma, left, was on Flight 370; her daughter Meghna and husband K.S. Narendran wait patiently, trying to manage their anxiety and longing for her return.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Muktesh Mukherjee and Xiaomo Bai had been vacationing in Vietnam and were on their way home to their two young sons in Beijing.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

76-year-old Liu Rusheng, an accomplished calligrapher and one of the oldest passengers on the flight, was in Malaysia to attend an art exhibition with his wife.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Teens Hadrien Wattrelos and Zhao Yan are shown in a photo on Wattrelos' Facebook page. The photo is captioned, simply, "I love you," in French.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Firman Chandra Siregar, 24, studied electrical engineering in Indonesia and was on his way to Beijing on board Flight 370 to start a new job at an oil company.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Patrick Francis Gomes, center, was the in-flight supervisor for the missing plane. His daughter describes him as a quiet person with a sense of humor.

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Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370

Ch'ng Mei Ling, a Malaysian citizen who lives in Pennsylvania, is a process engineer at a chemical company.

If the flaperon is confirmed to be from MH370, relatives say it still won't bring them the closure that the recovery of their loved ones' remains would provide. It's also unlikely to solve the mystery of why the plane flew wildly off course and dropped off radar.

Australian officials, meanwhile, say the wing component won't change the focus of the underwater search they're overseeing on the other side of the Indian Ocean from Reunion.

Part of the plane showing up on the French island would fit with the ocean current models they have been using, they say.

"We haven't seen anything as a result of this find -- even if it were confirmed absolutely to be from MH370 -- that would lead us to change the search area," Dolan said.

Australia: No plans to widen underwater search

While the flaperon has set off a flurry of searching on Reunion and beyond, it appears unlikely to prolong or widen the Australian-led underwater search.

Photos:The search for MH370

Photos:The search for MH370

Two years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, a relative of one of the passengers burns incense in Beijing on March 8, 2016. Flight 370 vanished on March 8, 2014, as it flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. There were 239 people on board.

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Photos:The search for MH370

On July 29, police carry a piece of debris on Reunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. A week later, authorities confirmed that the debris was from the missing flight.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Staff members with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau examine a piece of aircraft debris at their laboratory in Canberra, Australia, on July 20. The flap was found in June by residents on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania, and officials had said it was highly likely to have come from Flight 370. Experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the search for the plane, confirmed that the part was indeed from the missing aircraft.

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Photos:The search for MH370

In late February, American tourist Blaine Gibson found a piece of plane debris off Mozambique, a discovery that renewed hope of solving the mystery of the missing flight. The piece measured 35 inches by 22 inches. A U.S. official said it was likely the wreckage came from a Boeing 777, which MH370 was.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Relatives of the flight's passengers console each other outside the Malaysia Airlines office in Subang, Malaysia, on February 12, 2015. Protesters had demanded that the airline withdraw the statement that all 239 people aboard the plane were dead.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A police officer watches a couple cry outside the airline's office building in Beijing after officials refused to meet with them on June 11, 2014. The couple's son was on the plane.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Members of the media scramble to speak with Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Department, at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 27, 2014. Data from communications between satellites and the missing flight was released the day before, more than two months after relatives of passengers said they requested it be made public.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Operators aboard the Australian ship Ocean Shield move Bluefin-21, the U.S. Navy's autonomous underwater vehicle, into position to search for the jet on April 14, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks out of a window while searching for debris off the coast of western Australia on April 13, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

The HMS Echo, a vessel with the British Roya; Navy, moves through the waters of the southern Indian Ocean on April 12, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search, flies past the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 9, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A relative of a missing passenger cries at a vigil in Beijing on April 8, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Australian Defense Force divers scan the water for debris in the southern Indian Ocean on April 7, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A towed pinger locator is readied to be deployed off the deck of the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 7, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks at a flare in the Indian Ocean during search operations on April 4, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

On March 30, 2014, a woman in Kuala Lumpur prepares for an event in honor of those aboard Flight 370.

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Photos:The search for MH370

The sole representative for the families of Flight 370 passengers leaves a conference at a Beijing hotel on March 28, 2014, after other relatives left en masse to protest the Malaysian government's response to their questions.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A member of the Royal Australian Air Force is silhouetted against the southern Indian Ocean during the search for the missing jet on March 27, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Flight Lt. Jayson Nichols looks at a map aboard a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft during a search on March 27, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

People in Kuala Lumpur light candles during a ceremony held for the missing flight's passengers on March 27, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, delivers a statement about the flight on March 24, 2014. Razak's announcement came after the airline sent a text message to relatives saying it "deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH 370 has been lost and that none of those onboard survived."

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Photos:The search for MH370

Grieving relatives of missing passengers leave a hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A passenger views a weather map in the departures terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 22, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A Chinese satellite captured this image, released on March 22, 2014, of a floating object in the Indian Ocean, according to China's State Administration of Science. It was a possible lead in the search for the missing plane. Surveillance planes were looking for two objects spotted by satellite imagery in remote, treacherous waters more than 1,400 miles from the west coast of Australia.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Satellite imagery provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on March 20, 2014, showed debris in the southern Indian Ocean that could have been from Flight 370. The announcement by Australian officials raised hopes of a breakthrough in the frustrating search.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Another satellite shot provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shows possible debris from the flight.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A distraught relative of a missing passenger breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 19, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

On March 18, 2014, a relative of a missing passenger tells reporters in Beijing about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet.

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Photos:The search for MH370

U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations in the Indian Ocean on March 16, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on March 13, 2014. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, search efforts expanded west into the Indian Ocean.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Malaysian air force members look for debris near Kuala Lumpur on March 13, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on March 11, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported on March 8, 2014. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews on March 9, 2014, before returning to search for the missing plane in the Gulf of Thailand.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea on March 9, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014.

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Photos:The search for MH370

A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014.

Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a news conference at a hotel in Sepang on March 8, 2014. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said.

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Australian authorities expanded the search zone earlier this year from 60,000 square kilometers to 120,000 square kilometers, an area bigger than the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Covering all of it is expected to take the search teams well into next year.

But Australia said in June that "in the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft," it won't be expanded any further.

"The experts are telling us that there is a 97% possibility that it is in that area, and if you move into a wider area there is just too much to be covered for a small chance of finding the aircraft," he said.